Shutter-related light leak in my R2A?

[Toni Nikkanen]

Hi! I have a month-old Bessa R2A and so far I've not had any problems with it until now. A roll of Tmax100 film came out with lots of frames having some kind of light leak or uneven exposure errors. The problem is most evident with frames with lots of bright sky in them. There are two separate kinds of cases, from both of which I've attached good examples in this post:

1) uneven exposure divided by four lines that run parallel to each other, looking VERY much like the pattern that's visible on the backside of the shutter and going in the same direction

2) light spread from film perforations


Is it possible this is a problem with the camera? I've never seen anything like this. And yes the problem is already visible on the negative, it's not a scanning problem. I probably did not screw up the development as another roll I developed at the same time did not have any problems (though it was 120 film shot in a Flexaret Automat, but anyway...)


Sorry if I write in a confusing manner, this is not my native language..

 

[leivo311]

Hello,

the second pictures looks like, you shake too much during development. Through the perforation the developer comes with higher pressure and develop the part under a perforation hole stronger. Sorry for my English.

 

[Toni Nikkanen]

It might be I did shake too much, for some reason I remember I was rather vigorous this time though not usually 🙂
But the first example worries me because it's so much like the pattern on the shutter itself...

Well I've shot another roll outdoors after this one and it's velvia 50 so any smallish exposure problems are sure to show - and I'm getting it developed elsewhere too. Let's see..

I'd just hate to send this one back and wait for a replacement since I've just started shooting with it full steam 🙂

 

[sevo]

The pattern of the shutter would be much more hard-edged and regular - and bending issues usually cause crescent shaped "ghost" lights stretching across the width of the frame.

It does look like a development issue to me.

Sevo

 

[Toni Nikkanen]

Sevo, I sure hope you're right.. I think I'll calm down now and see the next few rolls through before I ache my head further with this.

 

[Tom A]

The first shot looks a bit like uneven agitation. The shutter on the R2 A is running horizontally (up/down) so shutter problem would show as banding in the horizontal direction.
The 2nd shot of the Helsinki Railway Station is distinctly "streaks" from the agitation. If you shake or agitate to much - the developer flows through the sprocket holes and cause uneven development. Agitation should be gentle, a couple of inversions every 30 or 60 sec just to allow fresh developer to flow over the surface. Also, if your developing tank is not filled to the top - the "flow" action gets accentuated.

 

[Toni Nikkanen]

Hi Tom, nice job recognizing the Helsinki railway station (though I think I know why) - and also for the very much comforting and sense-making explanation.

 

[Toni Nikkanen]

You were right everyone, got back my Velvia slides, absolutely perfect in every way. If only my Nikon scanner wouldn't do such a bad, FLARING job of scanning them..

 

[sahe69]

. If only my Nikon scanner wouldn't do such a bad, FLARING job of scanning them..

Which one do you have Toni?

 

[Toni Nikkanen]

I have the Coolscan 8000. I got so fed up last night that I actually sent a contact request to a company that services Nikon scanners, to ask if I could have my scanner modified there to remove/replace that flare-causing piece of plastic from the sensor that some people have been doing..

 

[sahe69]

Are you using a glass holder or the 35 mm film strip holder, or the framed slide holder? If it's the glass holder are you masking the film strip?

 

[Toni Nikkanen]

I'm using any of the above at various times and high-contrast slides flare like hell. It's a known problem with the scanner model though I guess my unit must be pretty dirty so I think I'll have it cleaned soonish, it'll maybe be slightly less bad then.

See this example, it's typical: http://84.20.144.89/~toni/roinia-ihmemiehelle/onepintpub/?filename=13-antero.jpg&size=small

And it was far worse before I clipped the shadows a lot. And it's not in the slide itself; the slide is pefect as it was taken with the CV Nokton 35/1.4 MC lens and lens shade (to keep this somehow on-topic 🙂